Tadej Pogačar‘s bid to win an historic Ardennes Triple has been thwarted by a crash early on in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the Slovenian abandoning after 85km of racing.
The UAE-Team Emirates rider was brought down in a crash along with Mikkel Honoré of EF Education – Easy Post, the duo both climbing into their respective team cars shortly after the collision.
It was later confirmed that Pogačar suffered a wrist injury, a short team statement reading that “he is on his way to hospital where he will undergo scans”.
Pogačar was the favourite to repeat his 2021 victory having already won Amstel Gold and La Flèche Wallonne in the previous seven days.
The 24 year old has been drawing comparisons with Eddy Merckx in the past few months due to his incredible form that includes 10 wins and two stage race triumphs in just 18 race days.
But Pogačar was denied the chance to go head-to-head with defending champion Remco Evenepoel at Liège because of the crash that upended both him and Honoré.
Rarely, if ever, in the Slovenian’s career has a crash forced him to abandon a race, and it was not immediately known how bad the wrist injury is.
He is next set to race at June’s Tour of Slovenia before he will try to win the Tour de France for a third time in July.
Updates to follow…
